Article | REF: J1270 V1

Photo-catalysis: water or air depollution and self-cleaning materials

Authors: Chantal GUILLARD, Benoit KARTHEUSER, Sylvie LACOMBE

Publication date: November 10, 2011, Review date: October 1, 2020

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1. Principle of photocatalysis

1.1 Definition

Ethymologically, the term photocatalysis is derived from three Greek words: phôtos (light), kata (down or back) and lysis (dissolution or decomposition).

Photocatalysis is therefore the action of a substance called a "photocatalyst" which, under the action of light, increases the speed of a thermodynamically possible chemical reaction without intervening in the reaction's balance equation.

Nowadays, the term "photocatalysis" refers more specifically to "heterogeneous photocatalysis" in which the photocatalyst is a semiconductor (most often titanium dioxide, TiO 2 ), not a transition metal molecule or complex.

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Principle of photocatalysis